The gaming industry has followed up a strong March 2010 with a really weak April. Compared to last April, hardware sales were down 37% and software dropped 22% in North America.

The main culprit for the hardware decline, according to the NPD's report, is the DS. It sold over a million in April 2009, thanks to the DSi's launch. It couldn't hit that mark this year despite the release of the DSi XL in late March.

The NPD attributes the sagging software sales to a drop-off in the sales of March 2010's new releases, such as God of War III and Pokemon HeartGold/SoulSilver. They sold 75% fewer copies in April. The new release sales decline was only 54% in 2009.